Abstract:
Introduction: during the storage of transfusion
blood, it may undergo a series of cellular changes
that in speculation could be the reason behind the
risk of using prolonged stored blood. It's important
therefore to monitor the cellular changes that may
reduce its survival and function. The objective was
to assess the cellular changes in whole blood stored
for
transfusion at Bungoma county referral
hospital. Methods: a single center, prospective and
observational study design involving 20 randomly
selected donor blood units in citrate phosphate
dextrose adenine (CPDA-1) anticoagulant was employed, cellular changes were evaluated for 35
days. The changes were tested using the Celtac F
Haematology analyzer. Statistical Analysis of
variance was employed in the descriptive statistics.
All the investigation was executed using statistical
package for social sciences (SPSS V.23). Results
were regarded as significant at P<0.05. Results
were presented in tables and charts. Results: at the
end of the 35 days blood storage at blood bank
conditions, WBC, RBC, platelets counts and MCHC
decreased significantly (P<0.0001, =0.0182,
<0.0001, =0.0035). The MCV, HCT and MCH
increased significantly (P <0.0001, =0.0003,
=0.0115) while HGB had insignificant variance (P
=0.4185). Conclusion: platelets, WBC, RBC counts,
and indices are significantly altered in stored blood
especially when stored over two weeks based on
most of the cellular components analyzed in this
study. The study, therefore, recommends the
utilization of fresh blood to avoid the adverse
outcome of cellular changes of reserved blood.
